


It's beginning to look a lot like Murder...

by MercuryHomophony



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-28 18:16:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17187962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MercuryHomophony/pseuds/MercuryHomophony
Summary: TAZ Candlenights Exchange gift for KaptainKawaii666~!Sorry it's a little late, and I had to chunk it in two, but the next part will be up in a few days.I hope you enjoy it! :D I really loved working from your prompt!





	It's beginning to look a lot like Murder...

The weather was unseasonably warm, even for a place like Bottlenose Cove, for Candlenights. Along the coast, there should have been a slight dusting of snow, and a cool wind blowing in off the ocean. Instead, it was almost temperate. Angus wasn’t going to complain, though. Neverwinter hadn’t been living up to its name this year, and the paths around Lucas’s academy had been covered in ice and snow for the last three weeks. He was glad to get a break from it, even if he was nervous over what was coming.

Angus took a deep breath, carefully shifting the precariously balanced pile of boxes in his arms. He could do this. He’d been practicing, a lot, and he’d gotten very good at it. And besides, what other choice did he have?

He muttered the spell, focusing as hard as he could. Almost instantaneously, a glowing hand appeared before him, floating about chest height.

He peered at it, frowning in disappointment. Only one finger.

…well, at least it was the middle one. Mr. Taako would probably find that funny, at least.

He knocked on the door in front of him with the spectral hand, thinking over the spell again. He just couldn’t understand it. He had other cantrips down - fire bolt and shocking grasp he’d mastered just before Story and Song (thank goodness), and he’d even moved on to some first level spells, like Comprehend Languages and Disguise Self. For some reason, though, Mage Hand just gave him a hard time. He was lucky to get a full three fingers on a good day, and if he managed a thumb, he could get by with that. Still, it was embarrassing to be excelling in classes on magic theory high above his level, and _still_ have trouble with something as simple as Mage hand.

The door swung open, pulling him from his thoughts, and he jumped as the stack of boxes was plucked unceremoniously out of his arms by Mr. Taako. “Hey, Agnes, guess who’s going shopping with me?” He glanced at the boxes - Angus’s gifts for the Seven Birds, and the handful of BoB employees who were going to be joining this small get-together. “Soon as we get rid of this,” he announced, snapping his fingers. Angus’s jaw dropped when the packages vanished with a _pop_.

“Wh- Sir? Wh-where did they go?” he stammered, looking between the empty air and Mr. Taako. The elf rolled his eyes.

“Don’t look so panicked, Ango, I teleported them under the Candlenights bush with everything else. Now!” he clapped his hands, leaning back into the house slightly. “We’re gonna hit the town real quick and go shopping. Because _someone_ in a new _body_ decided to eat all the fucking chocolate chips!”

“Eat literally every dick, Taako!” Lup called faintly from somewhere inside Mr. Merle’s - sorry, Earl Merle’s - beach mansion.

“Sorry, only interested in _your boss_!” he called back. Angus heard some exaggerated gagging.

“Gross! Gross and canceled, I have to work with him this week!”

“And now you’ll have a great new mental image to go with it!” he replied, sticking out his tongue in her general direction.

“Taako, I swear to Bird Mom, if you don’t shut up and go get more chocolate chips, I’m gonna start throwing pans!”

“Sorry, can’t hear you, too busy kidnapping the flesh boy for errands!”

“The flesh boy?” There was a moment of silence. “Oh shit, is Angus here? Hang on, I wanna see him-”

“Too late, we’re gone, you can see him later!” Mr. Taako rushed, pushing Angus back from the entryway, the door slamming shut behind them. “C’mon, Dango, we’ve got some shopping to do.”

Angus, who had been watching this exchange wide-eyed, found himself trotting to keep up as Mr. Taako pushed him through the streets, away from Merle’s mansion. He craned his neck over his shoulder, trying to look up at the elf.

“Um, Sir?” he asked, his voice pitched a little higher than he’d like. “Is Lup ok?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, that’s just Lup,” Mr. Taako said, looking distracted. “You know.”

“Oh… uh, yeah…” Angus said. He really _didn_ _’t_ know, which was why he asked, but he wasn’t about to seek out ridicule. “So, we’re going to get chocolate chips?”

“Among other things.” Apparently having decided that they were far enough away from the house now, Mr. Taako finally stopped, and Angus almost tripped over himself when Mr. Taako let him go. “So, here’s the deal, because I know you’ll figure it out in like, two seconds anyway if I don’t tell you. I-”

“-forgot to get Candlenights’ gifts?” Angus finished for him. Mr. Taako blinked down at him, mouth open, then frowned. Angus knew that expression, though - the wrinkle of his nose said he was actually impressed, not really angry.

“Alright, I guess I don’t need to tell you. Yes, _Angus_ , I got caught up in running a whole _school,_ with hundreds of _kids_ and _awesome_ classes, and gifts slipped my mind.” He waved one hand out at the open market around them. “Now, since Bottlenose cove is a tourist place, I’m pretty sure they’ve got everything I need, but you’re gonna help me sleuth some stuff up, ok?”

Angus glanced around, before looking back towards Merle’s place. “…and the chocolate chips, right?”

“Yeah, of course chocolate chips. I don’t want Lup flambeing my junk.”

Twenty minutes and a whirlwind of haggling later, Angus found himself loaded down with boxes, struggling to keep a grip on them all as Mr. Taako breezed down the streets ahead of him. Still, he did his best to keep up, peeking around the stack in his arms to avoid running into anyone.

Mr. Taako seemed oblivious to his plight, in the middle of a long, rambling rant about how obnoxious Mr.s Lup had been since she’d gotten her new body, what with the eating random “garbage” in the kitchen to the gross amount of PDA with Mr. Bluejeans (Angus did his best to tune out those bits. He was, after all, still a little boy, and he had a long way to go before he started thinking about _kissing_ ).

He was in the middle of tuning out when Mr. Taako abruptly stopped, and Angus barely managed to avoid running straight into his backside. A few of the boxes on top teetered dangerously, and he wobbled back and forth, trying to keep them balanced. Mr. Taako glanced back at him, finally noticing his predicament.

“Geeze, kid, who are you, _Jenkins_?” he asked, casting Mage Hand and effortlessly plucking the topmost boxes off with a beautiful, glowing violet hand… with all five fingers. “C’mon, Mr. Wizard-boy, I know you’ve got first level spells on you. Unless you burned out all your slots, which-” he shrugged. “Fair.”

“I still have slots, sir, but-”

“Well then, c’mon.” Taako turned to face him fully, one hand on his hip. “Let’s see that Mage Hand!”

Angus hesitated. He _did_ still have another casting of it prepared - even with only one or two fingers, it still had its uses as a distraction, which was often helpful when dealing with the boys. On the other hand, he didn’t want to invite Mr. Taako’s ridicule when he saw the still-horrific fingerless hand. “I, uh, don’t have it prepared anymore. I used it to knock back at the mansion, because I had all those presents.”

“Oh. Huh. I must have missed it.” He looked over at the floating violet hand and shrugged again. “Oh well, I’ve already popped the slot, might as well use it, right?”

Angus heaved an internal sigh of relief. “I’d appreciate that, sir,” he said sincerely. “I’m still a very little boy, and it’s hard to see over all those boxes.”

“Psh, seeing is for nerds,” Mr. Taako said, turning away and starting down the street. “And speaking of nerds,” he continued, before Angus could point out that seeing was for everyone without blindsight, “”how are you doing in Lucas’s nerdy school for bookworms, anyway?”

Now _that_ was a topic Angus could talk about in length, and he did as they continued to meander, Mr. Taako listening absently, still looking for another item on his mysterious gift list. Occasionally, he interjected, but his comments mostly either showed off his complete lack of listening, or were snide side comments about how much _cooler_ his own mage school was by comparison. Angus thought that was unfair. Sure, Taako’s school had received excellent reviews from spellcasters everywhere, but the… the _styles_ of teaching were much different. And, as much as Angus adored and looked up to Mr. Taako, he wasn’t sure he could handle a whole school of Taako-brand teachers. And, Lucas’s school was very good in its own way! Sure, learning was a lot more theoretical, since Lucas was always worried about students following in his footsteps, but Angus was _good_ with theoretics, and he was excelling in his classes.

He didn’t mention to Mr. Taako that his actual spell progression had slowed since he stopped spending Magic Days with Mr. Taako. He knew the elf had been busy since Story and Song. It was fine.

A few streets and several more less-than-subtle jabs at Lucas’s School of Arcane Sciences later, Mr. Taako cut him off in the middle of a detailed description of a specific theory of divination Angus found fascinating (it was related to a similar theory in transmutation, actually, and Angus hoped to draw him into a discussion).

“Oh shit. Hey, Anges, go hang out for a minute, I’ll be right back.” Before Angus could even protest, he darted off into the crowd of other last minute shoppers… but not before depositing the gifts he’d mage handed earlier back onto Angus’s stack.

“But- Sir-” Angus stuttered uselessly, before pouting, safe from sight behind the wall of presents. Dang it. He’d been ditched again.

At least this time he knew Mr. Taako would come back, he reasoned. After all, Angus had all of his stuff. So, he found a bench nearby and sat himself down, dropping the gifts beside him, relief coursing through him as he finally got a rest for his aching arms.

He stretched them, looking around as he sat. Maybe this was better, he thought. He wouldn’t have to carry all of Mr. Taako’s stuff, and he could engage in some good old fashioned people watching. He hadn’t picked up a lot of detective work since the Day of Story and Song. There were a few cases right off the bat, people trying to find each other and reconnect after the near end of the world, and he’d helped a lot of people in the first few weeks. But, after Madame Director - Ms. Lucretia, he meant - got the BoB rebranded and repurpused, a lot of people sought them out instead, leaving him to be a kid for awhile. It was nice, though he still kept his detective abilities sharp… just in case.

People watching was a good way to do that, just sitting out somewhere and trying to read the different people as they walked by. Like that dwarf woman with the young child tagging along at her heels - she was probably an aunt, or close family friend, with no kids of her own, if he was reading her fond but harried looks right. Or the couple walking around and giggling at the displays. He would bet they’d already bought their gifts already, and were just out and about to enjoy each other’s company in the temperate beachtown air. A gentleman with a plain coat caught his eye, and he tried to get a read on him. It was tricky - he was oddly plain, a human or half-elven man, with unremarkable features and equally non-descript clothes. Angus squinted, watching him out of the corner of his eye as the man paused to look down at a map in his hands. Why would someone be dressed so simply on Candlenights? Poverty wasn’t it - neither the man’s face or manner spoke to monetary hardship, not to mention the cloak itself was well maintained, if unadorned. The man looked up again, turning to look down the street, and that was when Angus spotted it. The cloak didn’t move with the rest of him, at least, not the way it should have. The man was likely under an illusion, Disguise Self, if he had to guess. He frowned. He had a special eyeglass Captain Davenport had gifted him, that let him see through illusions, but he’d left it in his dorm room at school, worried that it would get lost, stolen, or broken if he brought it with him to the party. Now, he was wishing he’d brought it.

“Hey boychik!”

Angus jumped, almost knocking over the stack of gifts next to him. Mr. Taako snickered, leaning against the bench. “What, dozing off?”

“Oh, no, sir, I was…” He glanced at the man again, lowering his voice. “I was just people watching, and I noticed that man is wearing a glamor. I was just trying to deduce why.”

Mr. Taako looked over at the man in question, fiddling with his sleeve and frowning. “Plenty of reasons why a dude might wear a glamor, Angoose,” he said. “Maybe he’s getting gifts and doesn’t want anyone to see, who knows?”

“Maybe…” Angus’s mind had already been putting together sinister plots, deception-laid plans, stuff from his detective work, but Mr. Taako was probably right on this one - he probably just didn’t want to be caught out getting last minute Candlenights gifts.

“…hey, Ango,” Mr. Taako started, not quite looking at him, an odd expression on his face. “How about an impromptu magic lesson?”

Angus perked up instantly at that. “Really, sir? What are we learning?”

The odd expression melted away, leaving Mr. Taako looking his usual smug and aloof self. “Oh, nothing you’ll be able to use _yet_ ,” he said. “Sixth level stuff. You’ve heard of True Seeing in your nerd school, right?”

Angus ignored the comment on the school, nodding instead. “Yes, it’s a divination spell that lets you see past illusions and magical transformations,” he recited. Mr. Taako wrinkled his nose. “Ugh, you’re even starting to _sound_ like a book,” he muttered. Angus frowned.

“No, I’m still a flesh boy,” he said, and Taako barked a laugh.

“Alright, fair enough. Now, True Seeing has all three components, V, S, and M, and you cast it like this -” Quick as a wink, he reached down towards Angus’s face. The boy couldn’t help flinching, and there were two quick taps against his eyelids, and a faintly fungal smell. Two hands clasped his shoulder, turning him and holding him in place. “Alright, kiddo, check _that_ out,” he said smugly.

Carefully, Angus blinked away the weird feeling of oil on his eyelids, and looked. Taako had turned him in the direction of the man, and even though the illusion was in place, Angus could see the actual person underneath, like a picture with a film placed over it.

“Oh, wow, sir!” he said, before looking closer at the man. “Wow, he’s… he’s very well dressed.”

“Yeah? Well tell me what you see, little detective man!”

Angus looked over the man. “Well, he’s human,” he said. “He’s wearing a blue and gray suit, like some of the nobles wear in Neverwinter, but he has a crest I don’t recognize. He’s got a silk patch over one eye, and dark hair, with some salt and pepper silver in it. And a goatee, and-” The hands on his shoulders tightened suddenly during his explanation, and he paused. “…sir?”

“Can you see the crest?” Mr. Taako asked, voice quieter, more intent. Angus tried to look over his shoulder, but with Mr. Taako standing directly behind him, he could only really see his blouse.

“Is everything ok, sir…?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, yeah, just… seeing if it’s someone I know,” Mr. Taako lied. Angus frowned, looking back at the man.

“…it’s a blue and red field, with a gray border,” he said slowly, trying to get a better look at the crest on the man’s chest. “There’s a blackbird in the center of it.”

Mr. Taako swore softly under his breath, before clapping his hands suddenly. “Okay! New plan.” Angus turned, watching as he dug around his purse, before pulling out a small object. “Grab those gifts and follow me.”

Obediently, Angus grabbed the stack, carefully turning to follow Mr. Taako down a side alley. The elf tossed the item on the ground, and instantly, a small, curtain covered door appeared. “Alright, just drop those in there, we’ve got a detour to make.”

“Sir, could we have put them in there at _any_ time?” he asked, after he put the presents inside the magic door, in a small, spa-like area.

“Uh, yeah, but I needed an excuse to drag you along, so…” Taako said distractedly, tapping at his stone of Farspeech. It buzzed, glowing faintly, and he sighed. “C’mon, pick up you old fart!”

“What’s going on?” Angus asked. He peered out of the alleyway, back at the man, who was asking someone for directions. “Who is he?”

 _“The frequency you are trying to reach has a mailbox that is full,”_ the stone buzzed, and Mr. Taako let out an exaggerated sigh.

“Dammit, Merle…”

“Is he dangerous?” Angus asked, glancing back at Mr. Taako. The wizard jumped, looking down at Angus like he’d forgotten he was there.

“Uh… it’s nothing,” Mr. Taako tried. Angus gave him a disappointed look.

“Sir. You know better than that.”

Mr. Taako glanced away. “Ugh. It’s um, a private matter.”

“For you and Earl Merle?” Taako grimaced.

“Ango, don’t call him that, that’s a dumb dad joke,” he complained. “And yes.”

“…are you going to murder that man?”

Taako let out an odd, trilled laugh. “Uh? No? Definitely not,” he said, and Angus crossed his arms, looking up at him sternly.

“Sir…”

“Angus… look, there’s a good reason.”

“Which is?”

Taako ran a hand through his hair, not quite looking at him. “That’s uh… that’s Governor Kalen. The one who destroyed Raven’s Roost.”

It only took Angus a moment to put the rest of that together. “Oh… then we’ve got to tell Magnus!” he said, but Taako was already shaking his head.

“No, nonono, we _can_ _’t_ ,” he emphasized. “Look, I - It’s not really my place to explain it all, but Magnus literally _can_ _’t_ know about this. If you try to tell him…” he shook his head. “He doesn’t remember Kalen. It- Wonderland was rough.”

Angus winced. He had learned enough from his research about that place to ask any more. “I- I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t know.”

Mr. Taako waved one hand, trying to brush it off. “’Course you didn’t, no one but me and Merle knows. But yeah, he told us before he forgot, if either of us ever saw him…” His hand drifted to his waist, where the Krebstar sat in its specially made holder.

“B-but you can’t just kill him!” Angus said. “Shouldn’t we hand him over to the authorities, or-?”

“Angus, look.” Mr. Taako squatted next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder, and Angus frowned. He wasn’t a _baby_. “One, going to the authorities isn’t really my M.O., and you know that - my track record speaks for itself.”

“That’s not a _good_ thing, sir…”

“Debatable. Second - even if I would normally go to the po-po on this one, Magnus asked us to do one specific thing. And in this instance, he knows best what he wants.”

Angus was about to argue that one, but Mr. Taako’s stone of Farspeech lit up, Mrs. Lup’s voice ringing from it. “Taako, I _know_ it doesn’t take you 30 minutes to buy chocolate chips and whatever other groceries you’re getting!”

Mr. Taako grimaced, standing up again. He covered the stone with one hand. “Look, Ango,” he hissed, “just, keep an eye on him for a second, don’t let him wander off. I gotta get Lup off our tail.” He stepped further back into the alley, taking the stone off of speaker and holding it up. “Heyyyy, Lulu!”

Angus shook his head, but obediently stepped back out to the street, glancing around. Governor Kalen was still there, but he was moving down away from them, apparently having figured out where to go.

Angus glanced back at Mr. Taako, who looked to be arguing with Mrs. Lup on his stone, and back to the rapidly disappearing Governor Kalen.

Well, it had been some time before he had done some trailing, but he was very good at it. And besides, he had his stone on him if he needed to contact Mr. Taako.

He walked out of the alley, heading into the crowd.

Tailing Governor Kalen was easy, since he didn’t seem to know which way he was heading. Keeping his distance was a little trickier. As the day moved on, the crowd was thinning, with people heading home to spend the night with their families. But, Angus didn’t call himself the World’s Greatest Detective for nothing, and he made good use of alleyways and stoops to keep out of sight.

After a bit, though, Kalen ducked into an alley, and Angus waited a moment to follow.

He peeked around the corner first, frowning when he realized it was a by-street, not a dead end. He hurried through to the other side, glancing around the other street to pick up his target again. But, he couldn’t spot the Kalen.

There was a tingling feeling in his eyes, and he rubbed them, blinking a few times. “Oh, Mr. Taako’s spell must have worn off,” he murmured to himself, blinking the buzzing feeling out of his eyes.

“Oh, I _thought_ that was who that was,” a pleasant voice said near him. Angus jumped, looking up. A human man with plain features smiled down on him. “And you, if I’m not mistaken, are Angus McDonald, correct? Given your reputation, and your… _curiosity_ in my affairs today, I’m sure I don’t need an introduction.”

Angus took a step back, then immediately regretted it as Governor Kalen followed him, closing him into the by-street. “I don’t know what you mean, sir,” he lied, widening his eyes for his best “innocent little boy” look. Governor Kalen looked confused for a moment, tilting his head to one side, before sighing and shaking it.

“Well, I suppose you are a young boy,” he said, and Angus fought the urge to bristle at that. “And that is regrettable. Unfortunately,” and he hefted a small stone amulet, “I do need your assistance for my plans. If you wouldn’t mind-”

Angus felt a wash of magic flowing over him, and his eyelids drooped. The last thing he registered was Governor Kalen scooping him up, and walking away.


End file.
